In January of 2018, for the first time, I couldn’t be sure that the deer I hunted were not infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD).
I brought two deer to a station set up by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, to have their lymph nodes tested for CWD. Even then, I had to wait two weeks for results, prolonging the uncertainty. For hunters across Minnesota and the U.S., this process has unfortunately become a needed extra step to enjoying hunting as a pastime.
This year the Minnesota Legislature made substantial progress in slowing the spread of chronic wasting disease, which threatens wild deer populations in our state and around the country. CWD is a fatal prion disease that affects Cervidae like deer, elk, reindeer, and moose and has been found in almost half of U.S. States.
Chronic wasting disease causes neurological damage leading to drastic weight loss, stumbling, and listlessness—the animal wastes away. There is currently no treatment or cure for the disease, which can be present in animals for over a year without developing symptoms. As CWD continues to spread through wild deer populations, it poses a massive threat to hunting in our country that we need to urgently address.
In Minnesota, CWD was found first in the farmed cervid industry and has subsequently spread to the wild white-tailed deer population. The Minnesota DNR found CWD-positive elk on an Aitkin County farm in 2002 and tested a CWD-positive deer in a mixed deer-elk farm in 2006. In 2010, the first wild CWD-positive white-tailed deer was discovered within two miles of a CWD-positive elk farm in Olmsted County, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture had determined to have a longstanding CWD infection in the herd.
Since the first confirmed case in wild deer, the DNR has tested tens of thousands of deer for the disease, tracking the spread of CWD and finding positive cases throughout our state. Surveillance efforts and research funding provided by the legislature have been critical in understanding how the disease is transferred from farmed Cervidae to wild deer and between wild deer herds.
“CWD is a neurological disease with a 100% fatality rate. It is absolutely critical that we contain its spread,” said Senator Kelly Morrison.
In the past five years, legislation was repeatedly introduced to fund research, slow the spread of CWD, and impose restrictions on farmed cervids to prevent further outbreaks.
Efforts to stop the spread, including a vote for a moratorium on new deer farms and other measures, repeatedly failed in Minnesota due to opposition from the well-funded elk and deer farmers lobby and an unwillingness from Senate Republicans to take the steps that researchers in committee told us were needed. Despite evidence and multiple warnings showing links between the cervid farms and CWD spread, Republicans were unwilling to impose common-sense policies onto the small but powerful industry.
When Democrats took full control of the legislature earlier this year, many observers recognized the opportunity to make progress on previously stalled efforts, including chronic wasting disease. Serving as Chair of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, I worked alongside Representative Jamie Becker-Finn and Senator Kelly Morrison to introduce a comprehensive plan to combat CWD in our state.
Our legislation draws on research by the University of Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach (MNPRO) on how to best slow the spread of CWD. We finally passed a moratorium on new white-tail deer farms and placed movement restrictions on deer from herds with positive tests or from states or provinces where CWD has been detected. The bill includes provisions mandating depopulation of an infected herd within 30 days and ensures new deer are not allowed on the premises for ten years due to research showing that prions infected with CWD can be left behind in the soil itself.
We strengthened reporting requirements for farmed cervids who escape enclosures and increased fencing requirements to minimize the chance they will escape and encounter wild deer in the first place. We also made it clear in the statute that liability for the damages caused by escaped CWD-positive farmed cervids lies with the farmers and should not be paid for by the taxpayer.
Our legislation also invests public funds for testing, response, and research through MNPRO. We took steps to streamline administrative oversight by transferring responsibilities for farmed white-tailed deer from the MN State Board of Animal Health to the Department of Natural Resources.
These proposals had been vetted throughout multiple years of public hearings and debate in the House since I became chair in 2019. With the support of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, researchers from MNPRO, and tribal leaders from across the state, these measures passed both chambers of the Legislature and were included in our final Environment and Natural Resources budget signed by Governor Tim Walz in May.
We also continued to fund vital research programs to develop improved CWD field tests and better understand the spread of the virus. But there is another reason why it is vital to continue research funding. According to the Centers for Disease Control, some animal studies suggest that CWD poses a risk to non-human primates who encounter fluids from infected deer or elk.
“The more CWD spreads, the greater the risk to the wild deer herd, and the greater the possibility of it infecting other species, which would be catastrophic,” said Sen. Morrison, who works outside the legislature as a physician.
As of today, there is no record of CWD being transferred from Cervidae to humans, but researchers at the University of Minnesota and from around the country have told us that further study is a public-health necessity. As legislators, we are responsible for continuing to fund that research, so we are prepared for the worst-case scenario.
This session the Minnesota Legislature had an opportunity to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease and protect hunting, our health, and our wild deer populations and we acted.
“For too long, canned “hunting” business interests were placed ahead of regular deer hunters’ rights in our state,” said Rep. Becker-Finn, the author of the House CWD bill. “There is still work to do but it’s gratifying to finally reach a point where meaningful changes have been passed into law to protect our deer and protect our rights as hunters.”
By passing this comprehensive CWD legislation we are working to ensure that future generations of Minnesotans can hunt without the fear of coming into contact with CWD. I am proud that we did not let this opportunity pass us by and I will continue to advocate for investments in protecting our wildlife and our ability to hunt safely.